Ever since I shot my mates' drone out of the sky with an Air-Rifle I've been promising to get him a new one. Sadly my cunning plan to finance it has gone horribly wrong. I took it up to Charlwood to put by the fence, voila! Dob-in a local boy on suspicion of having a hobby!!! £50K in the old pocket. Buy a new mega-drone & pay-off the Christmas credit-card bill. Easy as falling off a log, then they announce it probably DIDN'T happen!

It would be interesting to know, what, if anything, the 'drone dome' system detected during the short closure on the afternoon flights resumed..... my hunch is bugger all, hence the rapid reopening versus another long shut down

All of the recent statements from the Police stink of "backing off" and trying to play the whole thing down with wishy washy spin rather than hard facts. It's also interesting that they are not taking questions from the media.

When the dust settles, there is one hell of a book to be written about this or a two hour TV drama.

BBC news just reporting: "The suggestion there may not have been any drones at Gatwick Airport was a "miscommunication by police", a government source has told the BBC. During a conference call between ministers, chaired by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, it was agreed the 67 drone sightings were legitimate."

So the Police were right all along that there were drones, but not right at the moment when they suggested there might not be. All this based on the Government now knowing that the 67 people who reported seeing a drone had, in fact, seen a drone.

Ken

I came here for a shoot-out right, a proper shoot-out, with some proper men.

Ken Shabby wrote:BBC news just reporting: "The suggestion there may not have been any drones at Gatwick Airport was a "miscommunication by police", a government source has told the BBC. During a conference call between ministers, chaired by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, it was agreed the 67 drone sightings were legitimate."

So the Police were right all along that there were drones, but not right at the moment when they suggested there might not be. All this based on the Government now knowing that the 67 people who reported seeing a drone had, in fact, seen a drone.

There are a lot of large corvids in the countryside around Gatwick you know, just saying

The following footage can be geo-located to Gatwick North Terminal. The Bus Terminal doesn't appear to be on Google Street View but I found a video on You Tube showing the covered walkway that you can see briefly in the drone video. A lot of people have dismissed it as not being filmed at Gatwick. Also when you view the footage on a big screen you can see the rotor extension arms even despite the poor quality.

Screen capture from the drone vid.

Screen capture from Gatwick North Terminal video.

The video has been uploaded to You Tube without audio

From the video audio.

Have you got the drone?It's coming over your head! - Over your head!Man with West Country accent. There's the B***** (Expletive deleted)Other people can be heard swearing in the background.

BBC News reporting the possibility that some sightings may have been of a Police drone. The drones found near the the airport's perimeter have been eliminated from Police' enquiries too.

Is the presence of a Police drone something new to this story? I don't recall it having come up in reports before. Do Poilce drones have a flashing blue light on the top or do they go in plain clothes?

Ken

I came here for a shoot-out right, a proper shoot-out, with some proper men.

......we have been able to corroborate 115 reports [since then], 92 of them are from credible people,” he said.

“Of course, we will have launched our own Sussex police drones at the time with a view to investigate, with a view to engage, with a view to survey the area looking for the drone, so there could be some level of confusion there.”

......we have been able to corroborate 115 reports [since then], 92 of them are from credible people,” he said.

“Of course, we will have launched our own Sussex police drones at the time with a view to investigate, with a view to engage, with a view to survey the area looking for the drone, so there could be some level of confusion there.”

don't get me wrong I'm not making light of what could have been a disaster if a drone had been hit but the way it has been handled hasn't left me with a lot of confidence. The military should have been allowed to manage the situation much earlier. I feel sorry for the couple that were accused and then found blameless having had their details splashed all over the media, the people that had plans wrecked. How much has all this cost? Just like the location of the drone I suppose we will never know

it might have been better for them if it had been just one person speaking to the press - but then the press have a reputation for badgering people until they say something they later regret. The press are not blameless in this mess either

I’ve long had issues with the non-specialist Police forces asking anyone who observes a drone in close proximity to an airport to report it.

At Heathrow we often have drones flying around, undertaking aerial inspections of large aircraft, photo/video surveys of airport buildings etc, let alone those used for security and policing. In the future no doubt we will use them for runway and lighting inspections, and possibly navaid calibration.

Gonzo230 wrote:I’ve long had issues with the non-specialist Police forces asking anyone who observes a drone in close proximity to an airport to report it.

At Heathrow we often have drones flying around, undertaking aerial inspections of large aircraft, photo/video surveys of airport buildings etc, let alone those used for security and policing. In the future no doubt we will use them for runway and lighting inspections, and possibly navaid calibration.

From what I remember isn't use at LHR subject to permit approval from Heathrow Airport Limited and all potentially interested parties (including the Police at Heathrow) are advised in advance (or at least should be).